by RICK DANLEY // October 14, 2016 It had been a crisp blue autumn morning when, around 11:30 a.m., a single rain cloud stalled over Gilbert Covey’s farm. “Starting to sprinkle a little bit,” said Covey, who stood amid a cluster of small outbuildings south of the family farmhouse. Heavy drops pelted the cement slab where … Continue reading Charles (not) in Charge
by RICK DANLEY // June 26, 2015 IN THE YEARS before Velma Ensminger died, her husband, Dave, used to carry her from room to room. The pair shared a winding, single-story ranch house on a large farm near Moran. Dave was already in his eighties. Velma was five years his junior. The couple had been married … Continue reading A Grief Observed
Painting tucked away in Iola bank vault could be worth $500K by RICK DANLEY // May 29, 2018 In January of 1922, nearly thirty years after swapping his native Sweden for the rolling plains of central Kansas, the painter Birger Sandzén received his first one-man show in New York City. To this day, that exhibition at … Continue reading Hidden History: Sandzen in Kansas
by RICK DANLEY // April 4, 2019 Perhaps the most immaculately acted theater event you’ll see this year, Iola High School’s musical version of “The Wizard of Oz” runs tonight and tomorrow at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center from 7 to 9 p.m. I’ll spare you the plot. “The Wizard of Oz” rests with such … Continue reading A Whiz of a Wiz if Ever There Was
by RICK DANLEY // September 16, 2017 WINFIELD — On a warm mid-morning earlier this week, with a flock of purple martins wheeling high overhead and a soft wind rolling through the tallgrass prairie at the southern tip of the Flint Hills, Barry Barber invited me to look closely and with care at a large pile … Continue reading The Guru of Grass
by RICK DANLEY // June 18, 2018 PARSONS — Southeast Kansas’s GOP faithful poured into the Parsons Municipal Auditorium on Saturday for a forum featuring four of the top Republican candidates for governor. Current front-runners, incumbent Gov. Jeff Colyer and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, appeared alongside former state Sen. Jim Barnett and Insurance … Continue reading GOP in SEK: Debate Night
by RICK DANLEY // March 29, 2019 The United Methodist Church entered a new era in its long history when in late-February, after three days of fierce debate, the church voted to uphold its prohibition on both same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy. The controversial measure, which passed by a narrow … Continue reading ‘Think and Let Think’: UMC/LGBTQ
by RICK DANLEY // November 25, 2017 NEOSHO FALLS — On April 18, 1945, 18-year-old Wesley Carroll stood with the other recruits in line for the 120-foot high dive at the Great Lakes Naval Station in northern Illinois. As he neared the ladder, a man from the master-at-arms’ office approached. He pulled Carroll out of line … Continue reading The Brothers Carroll
by RICK DANLEY // September 29, 2018 The plan was to interview a young man who’d recently been run over by a bale of hay. He’d been standing near the hay trailer, helping unload the cylinders, when one of the giant, 2,000-pound bales slipped from the tractor’s front spikes and began rolling his way. The … Continue reading Part I: A Close Call (hay, heroism & hooey)
by RICK DANLEY // October 12, 2018 In an on-the-record interview last month, in which one other person plus a digital recorder were present, Brandon Griffith described for this reporter the details of his service in the United States Navy. During the course of the 65-minute interview, the polite, 39-year-old Burlington native paid special attention … Continue reading Part II: Stolen Valor
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